Communication Studies

Abstract

A major or minor in Communication Studies prepares students with the communication knowledge and skills necessary to navigate their relationships and communities, as well as careers in a multitude of contexts, such as advocacy, business, education, and healthcare. Through coursework and collaboration with faculty, peers, and the communities around them, students learn to find their voice, take risks, express their convictions, become transformational leaders, deliberate, and contribute to a more socially just, inclusive, and equitable world. We invite students to explore and re-examine accepted truths about communication in private contexts, as well as from local to international settings. Students gain insight into communication theories and contexts, as well as learn to conduct research using diverse methods of inquiry in order to ask and answer important and innovative questions. As means toward individual, relational, and community well-being, students apply and critically reflect on communication skills, such as advocacy, conflict, debate, dialogue, leadership, persuasion, empathy, and compassion.